‘Okay, well, your feelings can be A LOT sometimes!’ | Ginny & Georgia’s Max Baker
You're so sensitive.
The Highly Sensitive Person
“Theory and research suggest that sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), found in roughly 20% of humans and over 100 other species, is a trait associated with greater sensitivity and responsiveness to the environment and to social stimuli. Self-report studies have shown that high-SPS individuals are strongly affected by others' moods, but no previous study has examined neural systems engaged in response to others' emotions.” (Acevedo, et al., 2014)1
A very short summary of the Netflix series “Ginny & Georgia”:
This is basically an unhinged, modern version of Gilmore Girls with a side of female homicidal tendencies, and I love it. This follows a young mom named Georgia, starting a new life in a small town with two kids, Ginny and her younger brother, Austin. Ginny has a friend group, as every teen does, MANG. It is the most cringy way to name something: using all of your first initials combined.
This show is known to be cringy, see iconic meme references below…:
No cause what was this??? lmao
However, I fear they ate with Season 3. With all the trials, pregnancies, awful poems, relatable quirks, and ahem ᴶᵒᵉ ᵇᵉᶦⁿᵍ ᶠᶦⁿᵉ ᵃˢ ʰᵉˡˡ ᵃˢ ᵃˡʷᵃʸˢ... cough
Anyway, who is in MANG? MANG stands for Max, Abby, Norah, and Ginny. Each character has their own backstory and whatnot, but we’re focusing on Max Baker today.
From left to right: Max, Abby, Norah, and Ginny.
Max Baker is known as the funny, quirky, and “theater kid” of the friend group. Her negative traits are evident in Seasons 1 & 2, when some situations cause her to be “overdramatic”, self-centered, and obsessive. Some examples of this are: Her obsessively crushing over Sophie and Silver, and getting so upset upon finding out that Ginny and Marcus are an item while she remained oblivious the whole time.
Season 3 comes around, and it is the best season of Ginny and Georgia so far, in my opinion. Season 1 was full of cringy and unserious moments, but it managed to explore darker, more serious themes as the series went on to release Seasons 2 and 3. Despite Austin being the oldest 9-year-old ever, I fear this season ate. Devoured.
The season starts with Georgia in prison, awaiting trial for the murder of a neighbor’s husband, who was in hospice. No doubt, she did it, but still pleads innocent as she thinks of Ginny and Austin. The reason was that she thought it was the merciful thing to do. The whole season follows her trials and the deterioration of her relationship with the mayor, Paul. Max supports Ginny throughout all of this and remains a good friend to her despite the circumstances, while others had their opinions about the case.
Ginny and Abby seem to grow close, as Max notices this and grows insecure. Her love interest, Silver, also seems to be ignoring her text messages, which is another thing that is making her feel left out and ignored. This was not a one or two-time thing, it happened constantly throughout the show. ANG making a group chat, egging Abby’s dad’s house, trauma bonding, talking about their current relationships, and all WITHOUT Max. It was a very hard watch, especially since I related to feeling left out.
Max Baker seems to have a pain point of being ignored, as there was a short flashback of her, Abby, and Norah presenting a dance number in front of their parents as kids. The parents talked during the performance, causing Max to be frustrated. It is also insinuated that Max always had to emotionally support her brother, Marcus, throughout their childhood, while her emotions are often ignored. This pattern is observed when Max consults with her mom about her friends being more distant with her, and Ellen shuts her down about confronting her friends about it.
The most frustrating Max moment for me is in the following scene:
"At the end of the school year event in the auditorium, Abby is seated next to Norah, and they await Ginny’s recital. When Max comes up to sit behind them, they greet her, Abby noticeably colder than Norah. When Max reveals that she and Silver broke up, Abby and Norah immediately comfort her. When Max asks about Abby’s new relationship with Tris, Abby gets annoyed and claims the reason she didn’t tell Max is because she knew Max would turn it into a huge thing, but Norah interrupts the pair and tells them not to fight, considering they are in public. Max ignores this opens up about being distraught by the state of (M)ANG, telling them her feelings were hurt and she loves them and wants to fix things, to which Abby responds to by frustratedly saying Max’s feelings are a lot to deal with sometimes, but Norah breaks off the argument, and Max leaves devastated. When Marcus takes Max’s seat, Abby slightly snarkily says "Oh look we upgraded Bakers." to which Marcus smirks at and Norah tells her not to be mean.” (Wiki, n.d.)2
Season 3 ends with Max’s efforts to have a proper conversation with ANG seem to make the situation worse, and she utters, “Mom was right. That made things worse”, after having a chat with Ginny during a party to pick up a drunk, depressed Marcus. Then a depressing scene ensues as Marcus crashes out on everyone at home while Max stands there in tears, and begs her mom to let him go to rehab for his alcohol addiction. Once again, Max is swept under the rug by her brother’s severe depression. Her last scene in S3 is of her sitting in Marcus’s workshop in the garage, tearing up alone in silence.
There is an added layer to all of this when, in S3E08, there is a scene of Max pacing around and constantly being distracted in her home before catching Georgia stealing Marcus’ bike in the garage, which can hint that she is possibly neurodivergent.
According to Julie Bjelland (2024),
“For those of us who are sensitive or neurodivergent—emotional intensity can be linked to differences in sensory processing and heightened awareness. These differences mean we often deeply feel emotions, process them longer, and take in more nuanced information about our environments. This can lead to states of emotional overwhelm or emotional flooding, where it’s challenging to identify, express, or process what we’re feeling.”3
As someone who suspects that she is on the neurodivergent spectrum, I related deeply to Max in S3. Since I was a kid, I’ve always been told that I’m overly sensitive and that I always lose because I let my emotions get ahead of me. However, no one ever told me how to regulate super intense emotions, which is something I had to learn myself— and at times, feel like I’m still learning. It sucks, it’s not something I’m doing on purpose, and no one understood that.
If you’ve read my article, “my sister and I drifted apart.”:
There was a moment when I just lost it and sobbed uncontrollably in front of everyone in a coffee shop. My sister, sitting in front of me, told me with a cold expression and tone, “Emotionally regulate yourself. There’s a time and place for your emotions.” I felt like I was going insane, because I couldn’t stop to save my life. It was so difficult that I ran out of the coffee shop, uncontrollably sobbing on the streets and trying to calm myself down. It fucking sucks as hell. Another time, I was being asked about university, and I cried because I didn’t know how to put what I’ve been feeling into words. She asked me in an annoyed tone why I was crying, and I just kept silent out of shame. I can never be in a fight and win because before I even make my point, I cry out of frustration. A lot of times, I burst into flames because of something insignificant. I seem volatile, but what my family doesn’t know about me is that I sweep a lot of things under the rug and let emotions pile up, and eventually, I just pop. When I felt the need to cry, I did so in my bed at night or in the bathroom because of the shame I hold for my emotions. Before taking meds, I cried at every therapy session I had because I did not give my feelings the time of day to be processed.
💌 To someone out there:
If you’re like me or Max Baker,
I hope you feel seen and heard. You feel a lot, and that’s okay. Please allow yourself to feel your emotions, even if others call you overdramatic. People will misunderstand you, tell you in front of your face that your emotions are invalid, but never listen. It’s always valid to feel.
Your sensitivity can be a gift and a curse, because along with heightened emotions is the opportunity to translate that into art, and that is the beauty of it.
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Citations
1 Acevedo, B. P., Aron, E. N., Aron, A., Sangster, M. D., Collins, N., & Brown, L. L. (2014). The highly sensitive brain: an fMRI study of sensory processing sensitivity and response to others' emotions. Brain and behavior, 4(4), 580–594. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.242
2 Wiki, C. T. G. &. G. (n.d.). Abigail Littman. Ginny &Amp; Georgia Wiki. https://ginnyandgeorgia.fandom.com/wiki/Abigail_Littman
3 Bjelland, J. (2024, December 17). Understanding Emotional Intensity in Sensitive and Neurodivergent People by Julie Bjelland, LMFT — Julie Bjelland. Julie Bjelland. https://www.juliebjelland.com/hsp-blog/understanding-emotional-intensity-in-sensitive-and-neurodivergent-people
charmbooked. (2025, June 22). Maxine being mistreated by everyone throughout season 3. [Video]. YouTube.
